I’m not so sure it’s this clear cut.
The omega had serious stability issues that the 007 corrected. Many people preferred the mk1 over the sr-omega.
The sr009 provided another degree forward in detail and clarity, and is also often preferred over the sr007 which is a bit too dark/bassy
Full circle.There was someone recently selling their sr-omega stating that they prefer the sr009s.
Personally, having owned sr-omega, sr-007 both mk1 and 007a, and now the sr009s… feel that each model has had a clearer progress than perceived on the board. I recall the omega being very unfocused. To me the 009s is the best technical headphone off the Stax lineup that I’ve heard. That said, I find the 009s too bright/require EQ to fully enjoy them.
So far the only estat I’ve heard that might have had the “ideal” tuning was the CRBN but at the expense of a smaller soundstage and less 3D texture to the imagining.
Good to be back to reality, certainly there has been a clear progress from each TOTL Stax phone to other ending up to 009 to a hyper detailed transparent phone, some sort of pinnacle
of technical approach, unfortunately they forgot to make it musically inviting.
Zolkis and i A-B compared Omega to 007mk1 and the conclusion was that the Omega as a whole was better. We have with X9K a progress again, this time Stax added musicality to it's repertoire. Listening hours after hours now my brain get's adjusted to X9K.
This time i feel it's brilliant combination of 007/ 009. X9K presents the fullness of 007 and the clarity of 009, the X9K is similarly warmish than 007 with excellent bass response (it may go very deep even head shaking with Carbon).
Add clarity and detail amount like 009 so there you are. Transparency analysis is more difficult when comparing X9K to 009.
How do you perceive transparency when the tone is warm .
The X9K shows that warm transparency is possible, it has same amount of details and much fuller transparent soundscape than 009.
When i listen to X9K i feel relaxed, it's a perfect musical tone to listen hours without fatique.
Today i hooked Abbas Nos dac as source, this is absolutely the pinnacle of musicality
I think Stax made this time 100% right not so with other models in past 10 years.